ECE News Story

Davis Research Team Receives Patent

Davis Research Team Receives Patent

A research team consisting of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Professor Christopher Davis, Civil and Environmental Engineering Research Professor Stuart Milner, and ECE Associate Research Scientist Igor Smolyanivov has been issued U.S. patent 6,990,350 for “Optical Wireless Networks with Adjustable Topologies.”

The research team has developed a method for dynamically configuring the topology of a wireless network that uses both laser and RF wireless connections to allow transmission directions to be changed as dictated by the needs of the network. Moreover, the nodes can be switched from directional to broadcast and back again on an as-needed basis.

The University of Maryland's Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) provided assistance in securing the patent.

Additional information about the patent can be found online at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web site, www.uspto.gov.